Xero vs Payroller — Australia 2026
Xero Payroll vs Payroller for AU small business. Compare STP Phase 2, Payday Super, Modern Award support, pricing & super clearing.
Quick Verdict
Xero for growing payroll; Payroller Lite for one-person mobile STP
Payroller Lite is $0 for one person on mobile only — not full web payroll with super. Standard is $5.50/employee monthly after a 6-month $0.99 intro, with a $22 monthly floor. Xero includes payroll in AU plans (Grow $78 for 2 people paid) plus in-product BAS. Payroller does not document auto awards. Choose Payroller Lite only for a single mobile payee; otherwise Xero or a dedicated award engine.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Xero | Payroller |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Wellington, NZ (AU operations in Melbourne) | Sydney, NSW |
| Entry Price | $37/mo inc GST | Free |
| BAS Lodgement | AU plan pages list Track GST and lodge BAS, and the Ignite page says lodge BAS securely to the ATO from Xero. That is in-product lodgement, not a separate ATO-portal-only export. SBR is the usual channel; this check used the public plan pages, not an ATO software-product register extract. | Payroll only — no BAS features. |
| STP Phase 2 | compliant | compliant |
| Payday Super | ready | ready |
| Modern Awards | Xero AU payroll FAQ: it calculates pay and tax and is STP-compliant; for specific award obligations it tells readers to check a payroll specialist or the Fair Work Ombudsman. That is not auto award interpretation. Employment Hero or KeyPay remain the add-on path for penalty-rate automation. | No award-interpretation spec on the pricing or payday-super pages opened this check. Prior 'basic awards / manual penalty rates' copy is retained as a limitation, not re-proven. |
| Bank Feeds | Big 4 + 50+ banks | N/A |
| Data Hosting | unclear | AU |
| AU Support Hours | 24/7 online support | Mon-Fri 9am-5pm AEST |
| Phone Support | No | No |
| Integrations | 1000+ apps | 5+ apps |
Pricing Comparison (AUD, Mar 2026)
Xero Plans
Ignite
$37/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices: 20
- ✓Bills: 5
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
Most Popular
Grow
$78/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices: unlimited
- ✓Bills: unlimited
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
Comprehensive
$107/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices: unlimited
- ✓Bills: unlimited
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
- ✓Multi Currency: Yes
Ultimate 10
$143/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices: unlimited
- ✓Bills: unlimited
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
- ✓Multi Currency: Yes
- ✓Projects: Yes
- ✓Analytics Plus: Yes
Payroller Plans
Lite
Free
AUD inc GST
- ✓Employees: 1
- ✓Web Payroll: No
Most Popular
Standard
$5.5/mo
per employee
- ✓Employees: unlimited
- ✓Minimum Monthly: 22
- ✓Minimum Annual Monthly: 15.96
AU Compliance Scores
How we scoreScores are out of 5 and reflect depth of compliance support, ease of setup, and ongoing reliability for Australian businesses. Assessed March 2026.
Xero
BAS Lodgement5/5
STP Phase 25/5
Payday Super5/5
Modern Awards3/5
GST Handling5/5
Bank Feeds5/5
Payroller
BAS Lodgement0/5
STP Phase 25/5
Payday Super4/5
Modern Awards3/5
GST Handling0/5
Bank Feeds0/5
Pros & Cons
Xero
Pros
- Australia's most widely-used accounting platform — your accountant almost certainly knows it
- Bank reconciliation and bank connections on every AU plan checked
- In-product BAS lodgement to the ATO listed on Ignite through Ultimate 10
- Largest app marketplace with 1,000+ integrations (Deputy, ServiceM8, Employment Hero, Shopify, etc.)
- ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and SOC 2 Type II on Xero's security pages
- Auto Super listed as included in AU plans for Payday Super workflows
- Payroll included in listed AU plans, with people-paid caps by tier
- 24/7 online support with callback service
Cons
- Most expensive of the major accounting platforms — Grow is $78/mo standard from 1 July 2026
- Ignite limited to 20 invoices per month, pushing most invoicing businesses to Grow
- No inbound phone support — callback service only
- Public docs do not confirm Australian data residency for AU organisations
- Repeated price rises; Ignite/Grow/Comprehensive/Ultimate 10 all increased again on 1 July 2026
- No annual billing discount on the pages opened — subscriptions auto-renew monthly
- Public AU pages advertised both 90% off first 3 months and a one-month-free CTA; checkout was not started so the applied offer is unresolved
Payroller
Pros
- Lite is genuinely $0 for one-person mobile STP
- Published Standard rates after intro: $5.50 monthly / $3.99 yearly per employee
- 7-day trial and 30-day money-back on the pricing page
- STP Phase 2 listed on Lite and Standard
- Privacy policy: servers in Australia
- Xero integration listed on Standard
Cons
- Lite is not web payroll and does not list super
- After promo, $22 monthly minimum so 1–3 staff pay the floor
- GST treatment not stated on the pricing FAQ
- No documented auto award interpretation on the pages opened
- Payday Super evidence is marketing-banner plus a prepare-for-2026 hub — mixed
- No BAS/invoicing
Who Should Choose Xero
Xero is best suited for businesses that need small business, sole trader, accountant managed.
Choose Xero if you are:
- Small Business
- Sole Trader
- Accountant Managed
- Growing Business
Who Should Choose Payroller
Payroller is best suited for businesses that need micro business, sole trader with one employee, simple payroll.
Choose Payroller if you are:
- Micro Business
- Sole Trader With One Employee
- Simple Payroll
- Budget Payroll